PET Recycling Company (PETCO)
Visit websitePETCO is the trading name of the PET Recycling Company (Pty) Ltd and represents the South African plastic industry’s proven joint effort to self-regulate post-consumer Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) recycling.
PETCO is financed by a voluntary recycling levy paid by converters on PET resin purchased. PETCO also receives grants from brand owners and resin producers.
Support for PET recycling efforts ensures an on-going monetary value for post-consumer PET. This sustains collection interest and reduces the volume of post-consumer PET in the waste stream.
On-going consumer and public education and awareness activities promote environmental responsibility and encourage PET recycling. By taking responsibility for post-consumer PET recycling, PETCO imposes accountability over the entire life cycle of PET products and packaging. This means that companies that manufacture, import and/or sell PET products and packaging are financially and physically responsible for such products after their useful life. In the case of post-consumer PET, this responsibility has been delegated to a third party, namely PETCO, who fulfils the PET industry’s role of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). EPR promotes the integration of environmental costs associated with PET products throughout their life cycle into the market costs of the products and shifts responsibility for the used container from government to private industry.
PETCO’s MISSION
PETCO aims to minimise the environmental impact of post-consumer PET on the South African landscape by:
• Achieving sustainable growth in PET plastic recycling;
• Supporting existing and encouraging new PET collection and recycling networks; and
• Promoting consumer education and awareness programmes.
PETCO CEO Cheri Scholtz serves as a member of the GlobalPSC Advisory Group.
For a nice look at some of the people helping to increase PET recycling in South Africa and the approaches they use, see the video below.
